Stoya, 'America's Sweetheart of Smut,' Interviewed on HuffPost

NEW YORK — Stoya appeared on HuffPost Live today to discuss her recent profile in the Village Voice, which labeled her as “America’s sweetheart of smut.” She told interviewer Ricky Camilleri that she thought “for sure” they were going to say, ‘Stoya is completely insane.’”

“Amanda Hess, the woman who wrote it, most of her work on the porn industry has been very balanced,” Stoya said. “So I was expecting less glamour — but I’ll take it.”

The interview only lingered on the Village Voice piece for a minute before veering into a broader conversation about Stoya’s career, parents, love life, stance on condoms in porn — and her “vicious” PMS.

Stoya said she incidentally fell into porn when her former roommate, a photographer for RazorGirls and sites similar to SuicideGirls and EvilAngel, asked her if she would like to pose for him because she frequently lounged about the house shirtless.

“They’re just tits,” she mused.

When they opened up to viewer input, Camilleri “gave props” to the HuffPost community for its “mature” questions.

“My fan base, I’m just going to go ahead and say it: they’re not stupid,” Stoya said. “I don’t know what it is about me that attracts people that are little bit better about critical thinking, but usually they’re pretty good.”

Stoya talked a little bit about her long-time relationship with fellow porn superstar James Deen, but became a little defensive. “This is about me,” Stoya interjected when the conversation became a little too Deen-centric.

As the interview progressed, it became clear that Stoya is not one for censoring the “me.” She repeatedly referred to herself as a brat and an asshole and explained part of her defensiveness was a result of her raging PMS, all the while using bubbly laughter as punctuation.

“You have a nice smile and you can get away with it, it seems,” Camilleri said.

Stoya’s unabashed personality may have something to do with her parents. She told Camilleri that her father was mad at her for “ruining porn” because he constantly runs into ads for her Fleshlight on YouTube. Her mother, a stringent feminist, loathes her career because she believes porn "upholds standard gender norms.”

"If I was doing turtleneck-sweater, Birkenstock-wearing lesbian porn, she would be so happy,” she once told Xtreme magazine.

The porcelain-skinned starlet has not inherited her mother’s hang-ups about the industry, despite her comment that she was “screwed over” by her first adult contract. In response to Camillleri’s inquiries into the role of porn is rape culture philosophy, Stoya was clear about her rejection of any such notion, saying that "idiots" promote rape culture.

"We’re at a really interesting point right now … there’s visibility for the porn industry where people realize now that it’s not all blonde women with huge fake boobs that don’t want to be there."

Stoya, who already contributes regularly to Vice, said that she is interested in exploring writing as a potential parallel career, using her experience in porn for inspiration. She continues to speak out against legislation mandating condoms in porn.